Head Shops and How to Get Your Product Into Them

Head shops or smoke shops are places where counterculture and paraphernalia related to it are sold. In these outlets, you are likely to find items related to smoking, including bongs, pipes and other such items. In states where it is legal, you are also likely to get marijuana. Since vaping is now mainstream, you can also get CBD vaping oils here. The stores can be found all over the country and are a direct off shoot of the post-Vietnam war era. Head shops are also known as smoke shops in some regions.

Selling in head shops

If you are selling a product that is related to this counterculture, these places should be the first place to start. The customers here are interested in obtaining items that are legal and will be willing to make it a regular practice. Head shops are found in every state around the country, but most of them sell their wares to smoke ‘tobacco’, only few states permit the selling of marijuana for recreational uses, so they sell items that are technically supposed to be used only with tobacco. CBD based vaping oils are completely legal to sell in most parts of the country, so there might be no need to worry about selling them in the open. In places like Florida, pharmacies that dispense cannabis double as head shops because medical marijuana is legal in that state. E cigs and vape pens are among the most sought after products in head shops in recent years because of their ease of use as well as the cool factor that it brings to the user.

What can be found in a typical head shop

Head shops are not your usual supermarket or retail store. They are a more specialized and the items on sale are specific. The atmosphere is different, the lingo is different, and you are likely to be confused with how the business is run. The best thing to do is to conduct some research into the culture before you begin a discussion about your product. There is a fair market price type of situation in each shop, so there might be as much standardization as you’d expect. You, however, might need to stick to your pricing model if it works.

How to sell in head shops

For the most part, head shops and smoke shops are individually owned and operated businesses. Many of them are family run, so you are left approaching them individually and selling through them. For the most part, they are easy to deal with as shops are always on the lookout for new products. That, however, can be quite arduous, finding each shop in the state or locality. One way to get through to multiple head shops at once is to get through with the help of distributors. If that is not something you want to do, you can head over to the many smoke shops in your city or locality. From one of the shops, it may be possible to get a way to link other stores in the city. Many stores have websites that you can check up on and there will be a way to contact the shop.

Unsurprisingly, the most sold product in modern head shops are CBD oils and vaping juices. They are available all over the country, and apart from them being calming and relaxing, they are also known to reduce anxiety.

Bongs

Also called water pipes; these are the second most sold items at any smoke shop. They are normally used to smoke tobacco, but they can also be used with CBD oils in different ways.

E cigarettes

Thee are shaped like normal cigarettes, but are normally filled in with flavored oils and other aerosols.

Papers

Rolling papers are specifically sold to roll cigarettes and cigars. While they are mostly targeted at people who buy tobacco and roll their own cigarettes, they are also used by many to roll their joints. Wherever the local laws allow for sale of cannabis, these papers are big sellers.

Bubblers

Bubblers are smaller versions of bongs. Their operation is similar to that of a bong, but is small enough to carry around. They are smoother than pipes as the water in them will effectively cool down the smoke.

Dab rigs

They are used to give the user a smoother, cleaner hit in comparison to joints and other methods of intaking cannabis. Oils, waxes, and shatters are commonly used with rigs to dab. Other items that go with the rigs including nails and domes are also good sellers.

Other products that sell well are grinders, weighing scales, Hookahs, traditional pipes and other such items. Knowing what will sell is the first step in setting up a relationship with your head shop keeper.

Getting your product into smoke shops

If you have a product, let’s say CBD oils that you would like to sell, approach the head shop, set up a working relationship with the owner of the shop. Offer samples and remember to highlight the advantages of your product over the competition. Once you have the person behind the counter convinced of your product, all you need to do is make sure your product is always available. Depending on how good your product is, it will sell based simply on the word of mouth from the seller.

While there are a number of different types of stores all over the country, make sure you do business with the ones that are trustworthy and reputable. There are a number of registries available online. Click here to find one. Apart from the one mentioned, there are several, and you might want to go through them. Apart from being a way to find stores, many of them have reviews and other relevant information about the stores themselves. Create a rapport with the users as well because you need more people talking about your product.